Cells & Associations

The parish has formed five Small Christian Communities, one in the civilian area of Colaba P.O., two in the predominantly defence areas of Nofra and Dandi / Pilot Bunder, and two in the slums of Geeta Nagar and Ganesh Murthy Nagar. The SCCs made a slow start about five years ago and over this period have managed to attain stability. The SCCs function through regular monthly core group meetings and monthly Steering Committee meetings. Regular training sessions are held for animators on various aspects of running SCCs. One of the salient features of the SCCs here is the very regular monthly visitation of families by animators, sometimes even twice a month which has helped the animators to get an intimate and first hand knowledge of the life-situation of each member family, their problems, needs and struggles. This information helps them to devise appropriate programmes and activities aimed primarily to alleviate suffering..

The Strategy

The parish has successfully managed to network with a few charitable NGOs who have been supporting several programmes in the parish, having witnessed the plight of the people as well as the sincere intentions of the clergy, the social workers and the animators in the parish. This strategy of networking has enabled the parish to cater to several pressing needs of the faithful, which might not have been possible otherwise.

Areas of Outreach

The Feeding Programme: Everyday all through the year, food from regular sponsors (hotels) is received and given to 38 students.

Sewing Classes: One of the NGOs has donated seven sewing machines for conducting free sewing classes for women.

Adult Literacy Classes: Around 20 women are taught to read and write in Hindi.

Summer Camp for Children: On all the days of the summer vacation, children are kept busy with games and training in crafts such as painting, needlework etc. in the mornings and during early evening hours.

Picnics: Twice a year, aged widows (around 20) and as many as 100 children are treated to an outing.

Sheltering the Homeless: People arrive in the slum areas from outside looking for shelter. Some temporary shelter and food is arranged for them.

Non-school going children: The social workers identify such children and train them through tuitions for the classes that they are to be admitted to in the municipal school. As a result, the municipal English medium school in Colaba is full whereas in some other areas, such schools are closing down.

Balwadi: Around 150 children are looked after during the day.

Domestics: Animators, in coordination with the CCO, arrange for awareness and empowerment programmes to help them to improve their lot. Also on Women’s Day a special programme is held for women domestic workers.

Miscellaneous: Assisting people with the formalities of obtaining ration cards, admitting orphans to orphanages and AIDS patients to the AIDS hospice etc.

In all the above, the animators play the role of scouts, facilitators and coordinators by disseminating information about the various programmes, identifying those who can benefit from them, helping people to participate and assisting with the day to day organisation and implementation.

Cells & Associations

The parish has formed five Small Christian Communities, one in the civilian area of Colaba P.O., two in the predominantly defence areas of Nofra and Dandi / Pilot Bunder, and two in the slums of Geeta Nagar and Ganesh Murthy Nagar. The SCCs made a slow start about five years ago and over this period have managed to attain stability. The SCCs function through regular monthly core group meetings and monthly Steering Committee meetings. Regular training sessions are held for animators on various aspects of running SCCs. One of the salient features of the SCCs here is the very regular monthly visitation of families by animators, sometimes even twice a month which has helped the animators to get an intimate and first hand knowledge of the life-situation of each member family, their problems, needs and struggles. This information helps them to devise appropriate programmes and activities aimed primarily to alleviate suffering..

The Strategy

The parish has successfully managed to network with a few charitable NGOs who have been supporting several programmes in the parish, having witnessed the plight of the people as well as the sincere intentions of the clergy, the social workers and the animators in the parish. This strategy of networking has enabled the parish to cater to several pressing needs of the faithful, which might not have been possible otherwise.

Areas of Outreach

The Feeding Programme: Everyday all through the year, food from regular sponsors (hotels) is received and given to 38 students.

Sewing Classes: One of the NGOs has donated seven sewing machines for conducting free sewing classes for women.

Adult Literacy Classes: Around 20 women are taught to read and write in Hindi.

Summer Camp for Children: On all the days of the summer vacation, children are kept busy with games and training in crafts such as painting, needlework etc. in the mornings and during early evening hours.

Picnics: Twice a year, aged widows (around 20) and as many as 100 children are treated to an outing.

Sheltering the Homeless: People arrive in the slum areas from outside looking for shelter. Some temporary shelter and food is arranged for them.

Non-school going children: The social workers identify such children and train them through tuitions for the classes that they are to be admitted to in the municipal school. As a result, the municipal English medium school in Colaba is full whereas in some other areas, such schools are closing down.

Balwadi: Around 150 children are looked after during the day.

Domestics: Animators, in coordination with the CCO, arrange for awareness and empowerment programmes to help them to improve their lot. Also on Women’s Day a special programme is held for women domestic workers.

Miscellaneous: Assisting people with the formalities of obtaining ration cards, admitting orphans to orphanages and AIDS patients to the AIDS hospice etc.

In all the above, the animators play the role of scouts, facilitators and coordinators by disseminating information about the various programmes, identifying those who can benefit from them, helping people to participate and assisting with the day to day organisation and implementation.